Analysts See Larger Quarterly Corn, Soybean Stocks

Stocks of corn and soybeans sitting in U.S. silos in September likely swelled to the highest in years for the quarter, analysts say.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will report domestic stockpiles of grain and oilseed in a report due at noon EDT on Friday.

Analysts expect the agency to put corn stockpiles as of Sept. 1 at 2.349 billion bushels, according to average estimates compiled by The Wall Street Journal. That would be up from 1.737 billion a year earlier, and just short of a three-decade high.

They expect to see September soybean stockpiles at 339 million bushels, up from 197 million in 2016 and the highest in a decade.

The increase in stocks comes after a bumper crop last season, which exacerbated a glut sparked by several years of growing global production. American farmers are now heading out to fields to start collecting what is expected to be another bumper harvest, with soybean production forecast at a record.

Wheat stocks, meanwhile, are expected to fall. Analysts put Sept. 1 stockpiles at 2.220 billion bushels, down from 2.545 billion a year earlier.

In a separate report due Friday, analysts expect the USDA to show wheat production at a decade low after farmers reduced acreage and a drought in the northern Plains damaged the spring wheat crop there.

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